Tackling World Hunger & Poverty

Back while I was studying Algebra in middle school, Mom was studying issues pertaining to hunger. The USA for Africa effort at the turn of the 80s had sparked a lot of interest in the US in relation to addressing world hunger, and people started sending money to the SBC’s Foreign Mission Board, designated for World Hunger. There was a problem, as the board did not have any personnel working to resolve issues of hunger. It had been an issue neglected in preference to other priorities. Suddenly, there were millions of US Dollars coming to the board, and no viable plans for using those funds.

Timothy Brendle came to Brazil from Richmond to speak with missionary personnel about developing projects to tap into those funds that would be appropriate for addressing hunger issues around us. Mom was one of those missionaries with whom Tim met. He tutored me in Algebra while discussing hunger relief efforts, what the funds could and could not be used for, and what might be done with the Baptist Children’s Homes in the state of São Paulo.

Mom was already interested in nutrition and nutrition education. We were already attending a church that had a small clinic, dental office, school, and other programs to meet some of the social and economic needs in the community. With Tim’s visit, direction, and encouragement, Mom wrote a multi-year hunger relief project with a budget greater than $1 Million, which was a really big deal for the work of Baptists in Brazil, including work sponsored by US churches to whom we related. When my wife and I served as missionaries two decades later, that project was still talked about as the most expensive, as well as the most successful use of social ministries funds in Brazil.

The state Baptist convention already had four struggling children’s homes around the state. Two were in metropolitan São Paulo, and a couple were several hours away from the big city. I worked at one in the center of the state years later. It was a boys’ home, farm, and print shop. The boys went to school and had chores in the farm or shop, where they worked to supplement the home’s income as well as learning a trade they could use for future employment. Another of the homes had a carpentry shop, where the boys learned wood-working skills. None of the homes were well-funded, and they often lacked some basic resources.

Mom’s project was in direct cooperation with the executive staff of the state Baptist convention. She arranged an agreement that allowed hunger funding to take care of food and other expenses related to feeding the children. The state convention, for its part, would take the funds normally earmarked for food and nutrition expenses and redirect them to various upgrades at the various homes. One kitchen was completely refurbished with new stoves and other equipment. State convention funds were able to purchase washing machines and spinners to cut down on work involved in laundry chores which was all being done by hand. Bunk beds were supplied with new mattresses, and money was made available for better medical and dental care, including needed dental equipment.

The funds coming from the US were tightly controlled for use with food, cooking, kitchen remodeling, and needs related to food preparation and serving. State convention funds were freed to take care of other things that raised the level of care and dignity offered the children being served. The project’s success lay in its partnership agreements with those involved in the work of the homes and administering the funding of the homes.

I took a lot away from my little participation on the sidelines of that project. Perhaps the biggest take-away was that donations are often rather short-sighted in terms of the limitations we like to place on designated gifts. Had the funds been designated with a bit more latitude for their use, more might have been done to upgrade other aspects of the children's homes. On the other hand, the partnership and coordination between the mission board through Mom and the state convention leadership allowed for their buy-in to a helpful and needed project they would not have begun on their own.

The partnership aspect of the project is what made it work. It is what gave it direction. It is what allowed the various stakeholders voice, action, and participation in something greater than themselves. It is what built their sense of teamwork and mission, pulling the various pieces of staff and tasks together to accomplish more than would have been done, otherwise.

None of this was flashy. When the spinners were installed at one home, one of the women who had once done laundry there at a washboard sink was amazed, commenting that clothing coming out of the spinner only needed 15 minutes drying time on the line. The kitchens were still pretty basic to my eyes, but the new stoves made serving up daily meals to a hundred hungry kids a lot easier. New pantries meant being able to buy staple foods in bulk for greater savings. Dental and medical care gave the children better options for living fruitful and healthy lives.

The project did not take plates of food out to people on the streets, but it raised the level of care given to several hundred children not only through the three year duration of the project, but for further years down the road. That’s worth a lot more than a few plates of food, even if it might not give the same “feels” as personally feeding someone who is hungry.

If we want to tackle hunger and poverty, it takes more than handing out a few dollars or plates of food. It takes looking at the larger picture of what is keeping people dependent on handouts. It takes time to build relationships and join forces for problem-solving along with other stakeholders. Mom did not have a detailed theory directing her steps to bring the various stakeholders together for planning and making the project together. She simply understood that to make a difference and use the available funds for a lasting impact greater than the design of the donors she needed to get others on board.

That’s not rocket science, even if it is the kind of thing needed for rocket science to get a ship off the ground. If we put the kind of effort and resources into solving world hunger and poverty we saw at NASA in the 1960s, we could resolve these pressing issues. It’s just not as important to us as it was to beat the Russians at putting a man on the moon. Meanwhile, kids the world over go to bed hungry. How many more will starve before it changes my priorities?

“Feed my sheep… take care of my little lambs… As you have done unto the least of these, you have done unto me.” — Jesus